GREYWORLD in the city

A little girl living in a magical city.

This book begins by telling the story of a little girl, and a day in her life. She lives in a town full of very special things. This first section describes one day there. The main body of the book illustrates in detail our installations, in full colour. And finally, the book ends with transcripts and interviews, along with an essay by Dr. Charlie Gere.

With 64 full colour pages, this hardback book is available from our tiny little bookshop, at www.greyworld.org/store

Tank: Books in a fag packet

So you get little books inside a custom design cigarette packet, which come in a metal tin for adding Packaging goodness.

TankBooks are for people on the move, lovers of literature and connoisseurs of design. Try one and you’ll be hooked.

Titles:

Joseph Conrad - "Heart of Darkness"
Ernest Hemingway - “The Undefeated” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”,
Franz Kafka - “The Metamorphosis” and “In the Penal Colony”
Rudyard Kipling - “The Man who would be King”, “The Phantom ’Rickshaw” and “Black Jack”
Robert Louis Stevenson - "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
Leo Tolstoy - “The Death of Ivan Ilych” and "Father Sergius”

ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever

Following on from the 37 Signals first book, Getting Real. This books takes their software development thinking and expands on it for business. Basically stop spending cash on rubbish, stop having lots of boring, useless meetings, stop being dicks, stop wasting time and concentrate on what is really important. So you have more time to write book blogs of course.

Getting Real is available here to read for free.

From the founders of the trailblazing software company 37signals, here is a different kind of business book - one that explores a new reality. Today, anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few pounds or even free. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is now simple. That means anyone can start a business. And you can do it without working miserable 80-hour weeks or depleting your life savings. You can start it on the side while your day job provides all the cash flow you need. Forget about business plans, meetings, office space - you don't need them. With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, "Rework" is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.

The Internet Case Study Book

Preordered and dispatching on the 31st. From the people at FWA and packed full of interesting goodness from Industry Peers. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with this stuff, as I've usually seen it and the last thing you want is a book crammed full of useless, good looking, marketing web stuff...

The Amazon synopsis talks about Strategies for Success - let's see, as we put a few to teh test.

This title offers strategies for success. It discusses how to make your business work online. Featuring 60 success stories, from clients' briefings to final projects, this book provides detailed studies divided into five chapters: e-Commerce, Corporate Sites, Campaigns, Social Media, and Promotional Sites. These subjects form the core of what the web can offer to every person or institution, and knowing how these projects were developed can help differentiate your business or online presence from that of your competitors. Strategies examined range from those of giant corporations to small businesses, but all have a common goal: a successful, efficient and cost-effective investment on the web. Each project is laid out in terms of Brief, Challenge, Strategy and Results. From Coca-Cola to Prine of Persia, from Diesel to Domino's Pizza, this book shows how successful businesses of any size can devise an effective online presence, and features the work of strategic innovators such as Ajaz Ahmed, Alex Bogusky, and Jeff Goodby.

(Penguin Classics) RED

Re-released as part of the (Penguin Classics) RED Charity Series. Interesting cover designs and to be fair, that's why I am posting them here. Originally spotted on Creative Review Blog.

Books from Tolstoy, Stoker, Wharton, Zola, Dickens, James, Dostoyevsky, Conrad. In fact I could be very tempted.

Rodchenko & Popova: Defining Constructivism

Always had a soft spot for Rodchenko. Unfortunately missed this Tate Exhibition, so this book is a welcome reference. However like most of my Art Books, they sit on the shelf looking impressive and get rarely used. Maybe in retirement I will read them all.

Written by Margarita Tupitsyn with an essay by Christina Kiaer. Available from Tate Shop.

Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) and Lyubov Popova (1889-1924) were figureheads of the Russian avant-garde during its most exciting period following the Russian Revolution, a heady period when they and other artists dedicated themselves to creating a new world. As leading lights in the Constructivist movement they were responsible for an astonishing array of iconic works. For the first time male and female artist are given equal status, throwing new light on their achievements and tracking the extent of their influence, still felt today.

The book concentrates on four key periods. From the Revolution in 1917 to 1921 both artists believed that abstract art had the potential to transform everyday life. The legendary 5 x 5 = 25 exhibitions, which created a community of artistic and revolutionary endeavour, are examined in depth. Between 1921 and 1924, the year of Popova's tragically early death, both artists abandoned art for art's sake and put their artistic skills at the service of the Revolution. The final section follows Rodchenko's later move into photography, the medium for which he is perhaps best remembered, and explores his involvement with film.

The lives and work of these two artists, along with their extensive network of colleagues and collaborators, provide a key to the whole Constructivist project. For the first time the issue of gender is explored; is there a difference between the approach of a female Constructivist and a male one? The wealth of new scholarship and previously unpublished works the book includes make it indispensable for anyone wishing to know more about the art of this fascinating period.

John Baldessari Pure Beauty

Perhaps the perfect antidote to Pop Life, this gorgeous book documents the conceptual and imaginative work of John Baldessari. This large size books has a great combination of glossy plates, wise words and thought provoking commentary.

Edited by Leslie Jones and Jessica Morgan and available from Tate Shop. Preview here:

"I am interested in what gets us to stop and look, as opposed to simply consuming images passively."

A quietly towering figure in contemporary art, John Baldessari is widely considered one of the most influential artists to emerge since the mid-1960s. For nearly five decades his prolific and highly varied work has challenged our ways of looking at art, images, and text. A renowned teacher as well, first at California Institute of the Arts and later at UCLA, he has had an important impact on the practice of subsequent generations of media savvy artists. From his early text-and-image paintings to the more recent photocollages and installations, Baldessari has continued to make art that addresses the social impact of mass culture, often playfully, and always with a sly profundity. His lifelong exploration of the gap between the verbal and the visual has probed the very nature of communication and perception.

John Baldessari: Pure Beauty, the most comprehensive volume to date on this legendary California artist, features more than 240 illustrations. Eleven insightful essays, by critics, curators, art historians, and an artist and former student, illuminate many aspects of Baldessari's oeuvre and provide a context for the artists extraordinary contribution to twentieth and twenty-first century art. Few contemporary artists have achieved Baldessari's range and relevance and this stunning volume, with its expansive reproductions and substantial text, provides the definitive look at an artist who has engagingly challenged our very ways of seeing.

And now the back cover